1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to systems for controlling and monitoring agricultural field equipment such as irrigation pivots and potato storage cellars.
2. Statement of the Problem
A need exists to provide two-way remote communication between agriculture field equipment such as pivot irrigation systems and a mobile operator such as a farmer in a truck to report the status of the equipment and to provide command control over it. This is especially true when a farmer (or pivot irrigator) manages a large number of pivots (e.g., with a 20-mile radius). Pivot irrigation systems require frequent setup changes in response to weather changes, and since breakdowns are common, to confirm that they are running. While many conventional systems provide a central control computer (or base station) to report on the status of the equipment and to execute command signals, a need exists to immediately provide similar information to a mobile operator (such as a farmer in a truck) remote from the central control computer.
A number of prior patented approaches exist in the pivot irrigation technology. U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,149 (Hirsch) discloses an irrigation control apparatus using soil moisture sensors connected to a radio transmission apparatus located on the upper portion of the irrigation mast for continuously transmitting data concerning the status of soil moisture. A farmer obtains reports from a telephone or radio. The data from the moisture sensors (or a weather station) are delivered to a remote computer such as through radio transmission, which processes the data and in turn communicates it to the farmer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,934 issued to Krisle sets forth a sensor on a pivot irrigation system for monitoring stoppage of the pivots. When stoppage is detected, a radio transmitter at the pivot delivers a signal to a remote receiver or beeper carried by the farmer. When stoppage of the pivot or angular displacement of sections of the pivot occurs, a signal is generated which is delivered to a radio transmitter at the pivot for transmitting a signal to a detached signal receiver or beeper carried by the farmer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,047 issued to Saunders teaches an automated remote telemetry paging system where operators carrying remote pagers are notified of alarms at a specific site location. The operator carrying the pager can take appropriate repair or corrective action to remedy the alarm situation. In the ""047 patent, the status of the monitored functions is continuously monitored every 26 microseconds. The input status values are compared against a reference field stored in memory and if a deviation occurs, an alarm is issued to the remote pager identifying the location with the alarm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,522 issued to Marian provides a pager at each pivot to receive command signals from a remote phone to control activities at the pivot. A farmer at a phone in a vehicle calls a paging station and enters an identification code and a message. The message is delivered to the pager at the irrigation site, is decoded, and causes a function to occur at the site (such as to increase watering or to decrease watering).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,857 issued to Hunt sets forth use of a master control computer at each pivot, which communicates to a central computer. The central computer monitors the pivot and allows the operator to program the system. The computer at the pivot may be controlled by a radio device such as a VHF transmitter or a cellular telephone system. Hunt provides an operational personal computer-based irrigation network facility so as to provide complete irrigation management. This allows management from any location on the farm or elsewhere. The personal computer displays the current status of all pivots in the network and allows any settings to be changed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,984 issued to Unruh discloses a central computer for monitoring control in a number of pivots. In an alternate embodiment of Unruh, a portable base unit could be separately transported by the farmer to input and monitor each intelligent remote unit. Hence, a farmer can, through a portable base unit, directly control and monitor the intelligent remote control at a pivot or pivots.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,216 to DeLuca et al., permits a pager to receive a graphic address command to display on the pager a desired graphic.
A number of prior commercially available systems for managing irrigation pivots are also available. Valmont Industries, Inc. sells a computer-aided management system, which includes a radio telemetry package, located at the irrigation pivot to provide two-way communication via a radio link to a remote central computer. The remote central computer enables the farmer to change all system operations from his office. Up to 100 pivots operate from one remote computer. The remote computer is interrogated by the central computer to obtain status changes for direction, running condition (run/stop), speed, water depth, and whether chemical is being applied. Communication range is a line of sight communication up to 15 miles and provides monitoring and control 24 hours per day. In the case of an alarm, an auto-dialer for the farm""s two-way radio can be used to alert remote individuals. Valmont offers the Valley Remote Link which provides 24 hour control via a cellular phone, business band radio, or touch-tone phone. This allows the farmer to direct pivot functions from a remote location.
Lockwood Corporation provides an automated panel located at each pivot to allow the user to have computerized control over a particular pivot. When something goes wrong with a pivot, the Lockwood system will attempt to correct the problem at the remote central control and if unable to correct it, it will call a preprogrammed list of numbers until the farmer is reached.
T-L Irrigation Company provides a computer control for a hydrostatic drive pivot.
Reinke Manufacturing Company provides an automated management system having control panels at each pivot which may communicate with a remote computer control via a radio link.
Lindsey Manufacturing Company provides an automated irrigation management system which provides remote control and monitoring via a telemetry network with corresponding controls at each pivot. Lindsey provides a remote monitor alarm and control system that links the farmer with a pivot over the business band radio or cellular phone. It permits the farmer to poll any pivot and to provide the farmer with an instant report of operating conditions including an automatic trouble alarm. The farmer can start, stop, change direction and perform other control functions from the remote location. This system utilizes a UHF or VHF business band radio. A code is keyed on the microphone tone pad of the business band radio or cell phone. A code is keyed on the microphone tone pad of the business band radio telephone. This is received at the pivot and the pivot will respond with its call letters and unit number. The farmer then keys in the proper code to bring up one of hundreds of voice message combinations to obtain the exact operating status of the pivot system. These are status reports. The remote monitor alarm system will also automatically broadcast alarm messages such as when the pump shuts down prematurely.
Sensing and Control, Inc. also provides a computerized control at each pivot. However, a communications package provides communications to a remote central computer via a spread spectrum radio or telephone modem.
KandS Systems, Inc. provides a control display panel at each pivot and a two-way radio communications system link with a remote computer command system.
Dexter Fortson Associates, Inc. provides a control panel at each pivot. The control panel upon detecting a change in status immediately reports this to a remote base station. The base station computer can be set up to request updates such as every ten minutes from each control panel. The system interfaces with hand-held computer and telephone voice or digital to multi-frequency (DTMF) tone pad interface units to enable the farmer to monitor and control functions from vehicles, tractors, or homes within the radio range or from any touch tone telephone.
A need exists to provide a pager at the central control computer to receive remote commands from a mobile farmer to perform a function at an individual pivot managed by the central control computer. After the remote commands are performed, a need exists to provide feedback verifying the completion of the function to the farmer in the form of status signals displayed in a pager held by the farmer. Finally, a need exists for the farmer to be immediately paged whenever a change in the status of any one pivot occurs and to be updated on the status of all pivots with changes in status clearly marked. The Hirsch, Hunt and Unruh patents and the Valmont, Lockwood, Lindsey, and Dexter systems all teach providing a computer at each pivot in communication with a central computer and a portable unit (phone, radio, or computer) carried by the farmer for communication to the computer at the pivot, or in the case of Dexter, to the central computer. Saunders and Krisle teach providing equipment at the pivot for directly reporting status information to a pager carried by a farmer. Marian teaches sending commands from a phone carried by a farmer to a pager at the remote pivot. However, none of these approaches provide a solution to all of the above three needs.
A need also exists to continuously monitor the status of the AC power being delivered to each pivot, to continuously monitor whether each pivot is dry or wet, to monitor whether a pivot is moving or not, and to monitor the status of fertilizer and chemical injection equipment being operated at a pivot site.
A need further exists to issue a status signal when the central control computer has not communicated with a pivot for a predetermined period of time.
A need also exists to monitor the status of the xe2x80x9cAC power interruption devicexe2x80x9d often used by rural power providers to xe2x80x9cload managexe2x80x9d their power distribution systems. Running pivots are xe2x80x9cshedxe2x80x9d for periods of time in order to reduce power consumption at peak periods. There is a need to alert irrigators to these status changes, particularly to advise when power interruption is curtailed.
A need also exists to permit the farmer at a remote mobile location to control the pivot by xe2x80x9ckillingxe2x80x9d a particular pivot by stopping the pivot from moving and delivering water. For example, when a thunder and lighting storm is nearby a pivot, it is often desirable to stop the operation of the pivot and the need exists for a kill control to remotely stop the pivot from operation.
A need also exists to have the farmer review all paged statuses for all pivots delivered to the pager during a past predetermined number of page transmissions.
A need also exists for the continuous updating of time and date stamped records of each monitored pivot""s status to the central computer. These data base records are to facilitate the reporting of text and graphic reports of changes to pivot status over time. Selected summary reports can also be xe2x80x9cpaged.xe2x80x9d
In addition to pivot management, there is a similar need to remotely monitor status and control process functions of grain and produce conditioning and storage facilities such as potato cellars. These facilities are often scattered and remote to the central headquarters of a farm operation. Knowing the status of the ventilation, drying, and stirring equipment is critical to establishing and maintaining the optimal environmental conditions for stored crops.
3. Solution to the Problem
The system of the present invention for controlling and monitoring agricultural and storage field equipment provides a solution to all of the above-described needs. The system of the present invention provides a pager at a central control to receive remote commands from any of a plurality of mobile farmers in order to enable a function to occur at an individual pivot monitored by the central control. The performance of the commanded function is detected at the pivot and delivered back to the central control in the form of a status value. The change in status at the commanded pivot is then converted to a status xe2x80x9csymbolxe2x80x9d and delivered along with the status of all of the other pivots to the respective farmer via a hand-held pager that the farmer can clearly view. The pivot having the change (or the pivots having the changes) are clearly marked so that the farmer can instantly verify, in real time, the change in status as well as the status of all other pivots. Hence, with each page, the status of all pivots is delivered to the farmer at a remote location. Those pivots having a change in status are clearly marked. The farmer can, by viewing his pager, continuously monitor whether each pivot in the group of observed pivots is wet or dry or is moving or not or has lost AC power or has been xe2x80x9cload shedxe2x80x9d or is receiving chemical or fertilizer injection. Furthermore, the system of the present invention issues a status signal when the central control computer has not communicated with a pivot for a predetermined period of time (such as 45 minutes). The farmer needs to know of a failure in communication link at any pivot.
Furthermore, the system of the present invention enables the farmer at the remote location to control certain functions of the pivot such as xe2x80x9ckillingxe2x80x9d a particular pivot by stopping the pivot from moving and delivering water, such as when a nearby thunderstorm or heavy rainstorm occurs.
Finally, the system provides storage in the pager at the farmer""s remote location of a predetermined number of prior pages to enable the farmer to scan through such prior pages to review time tracked changes in status that have occurred in the past. The system provides a complete backup of status information and of all pages delivered and received for each piece of field equipment at the central computer.
A pager method system for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of agricultural field equipment (i.e., a group) is disclosed. The pager method system of the present invention includes a plurality of isolation devices at each location of agricultural field equipment, such isolation relay devices providing optical isolation between the relay and the sensors and between the relay and the electronic circuitry of RTU 50. A plurality of sensors are provided at each location of agricultural field equipment wherein a sensor connects through an isolation relay device to one of the controllers for issuing a status signal corresponding to the present status of the connected controller. For example, in the case of pivot irrigation equipment, a power sensor could be interconnected through an isolation device such as an optical isolator to wet/dry control switch. The sensor continuously monitors whether or not the wet/dry switch is on or off through the optical isolation relay device.
The sensors of the present invention are interconnected to a remote terminal unit. Whenever the status of a controller changes, the remote terminal unit transmits the changed status symbol as well as the status of the other sensors to a central control computer. The xe2x80x9cinputsxe2x80x9d to the remote terminal unit include appropriate time delays to prevent the reporting of intermittent or xe2x80x9cspikexe2x80x9d signals.
The central control computer receives the transmitted status signals from the transmitting remote terminal unit, identifies the field unit and the data with a defined group, and analyzes the status signals for generating at least one changed status paging message for the respective group of equipment. In noisy environments, several redundant messages are sent. The central control computer delivers the changed status paging message, identifying the group and the agricultural field equipment having the changed status, as well as the unchanged status messages from all remaining agricultural field equipment in the respective group. The changed status and the unchanged status paging messages are delivered to a paging terminal for redelivery to a pager (or group of pagers) held by an operator of the defined group of equipment at a remote location. The pager notifies the operator of the page, and the operator views the displayed changed and unchanged status paging message. The pivot(s) with changed status is marked so that the operator can easily identify which piece of agricultural field equipment had its status changed for the current page.
The method of the present invention for monitoring the operation of a number of controllers and for commanding the operation of at least one power circuit in each one of the plurality of agricultural field equipment includes the following steps:
issuing a command signal for an identified agricultural field equipment in an identified group from a phone at a remote location,
delivering the issued commands by way of commercial paging services to a first pager located at a central control computer,
the central control computer transmitting by way of radio telemetry the delivered command signal to the power circuit (or other control points) at the identified agricultural field equipment,
commanding the operation of the power circuit at the identified agricultural field equipment,
issuing status signals corresponding to the changed and unchanged status of the plurality of controllers,
transmitting the issued status signals by radio telemetry to a central control computer whenever one status signal changes such as in response to the commanded operation,
receiving the transmitted status signals at the central control computer,
analyzing the received status signals at the central control computer,
generating a changed status paging message identifying the location and status of the agricultural field equipment having the one status signal change and including the unchanged status of the remaining agricultural field equipment locations in the group,
delivering the paging message to a second pager carried by a remote operator by way of commercial paging services,
displaying said changed and unchanged status paging message in the operator""s pager, the changed status paging message being marked when displayed thereby marking the agricultural field equipment issuing the changed status paging message.
The same sequence of system events is carried out when an individual pivot has a change in status of a monitored input (event). The status signals corresponding to the changed and unchanged status of a plurality of controllers are immediately transmitted to the central computer so as to cause a new page message to the operator""s pager displaying the changed and unchanged status of all pivots in the respective group.
The method of the present invention for monitoring the operation of a number of controllers also includes a means for each remote terminal unit to transmit a xe2x80x9cself reportxe2x80x9d of current status of all inputs (control points being monitored) to the central computer. Such self reports provide a xe2x80x9cbackupxe2x80x9d to any missed xe2x80x9ceventxe2x80x9d reports. The frequency of self reports is adjustable. Self reports also verify continued radio functions.